Pipit's Sick Day
by Lindous
Summary: When Pipit becomes sick before his big date with Karane, he does his best to hide it from her in order not to disappoint her.


Pipit groaned as sunlight streamed through his open bedroom window and into his eyes. He lay sprawled out across the covers of his bed, his hair tousled and dark circles beneath his eyes. Across his room was a wardrobe with a yellow knights' uniform hanging out of its open door, a desk with books on swordplay and the knights' code scattered across it, as well as a neat picture of Karane, which didn't have even a speck of dust near it.

Pipit unknowingly smiled as he glanced at Karane's picture before glancing at the planner pinned casually above his desk.

"Nothing really important today," he rasped quietly, noticing then that he hardly had a voice. His face was slightly paler than normal. As Pipit stood up to get dressed, a wave of dizziness over took him, and his legs gave out beneath him. Landing with a loud thud the caused the lamp dangling above him to sway, Pipit slowly rose to his feet, stepping off of his green rug.

"Pipit!" his mother, Mallara, called. "Are you all right in there?"

"I'm fine, mother!" Pipit called back, dressed in his uniform and fixing his hair before putting on his hat.

"Hurry up, honey! Breakfast is ready, and you seem to have woken up late!"

Pipit gasped as he grabbed some of his books on knighthood, and dashed toward the door.

"What about breakfast, Pipit?" Mallara asked.

"Not hungry," Pipit grumbled, trying to get his books in order. He turned to say good-bye to his mother for the day and was met with a stern glare.

"Not hungry?" she asked plainly. "The only time I don't see you eat is when you are sick."

Pipit gave his mother his most diplomatic smile before walking over to the table, smearing butter onto two pieces of toast, and glaring at them distastefully before scarfing them down hurriedly.

"That's better," Mallara said with a smile. "Have a good day at the academy!" she called out as Pipit waved and left the house.

* * *

"And so, because loftwings lack tapetum lucidum in their eyes, as do humans, they are unable to fly easily in darkness when there is a limited amount of light, which is why you see most well-trained knights wearing helmets what shoot out a beam of light where they are facing so that their loftwings may also see…" As Professor Horwell continued to lecture, Pipit quietly took his seat in class, stifling a cough as he sat down.

"Welcome, Pipit," Professor Horwell said with a slight smile. "You're late…"

Groose, Cawlin and Strich snickered as Pipit sat down mid-lecture. Pipit noticed as he began to ache from exhaustion, and continued to stifle coughing. A note landed on his desk a few minutes after he sat down. As he unfolded it, he noticed it was written in Karane's neat handwriting.

"_Are you alright?"_ the note asked. Pipit turned and nodded to Karane, smiling and nodded. Shortly afterward, another note landed on his desk. "_Remember our date tonight? You promised that we would go flying together."_

Pipit hardly managed to contain his shock at this news, having forgotten that he promised to take Karane out for dinner. He felt his heart leap for a second, and then began to cough profusely. Finally managing to suppress the coughing fit, Pipit noticed that everyone in the room, including Professor Horwell, was staring at him in shock.

"Are you alright?" Strich was the first person to break the silence.

"Wow. I never thought it was possible for him to get sick," Cawlin snickered.

"I'm fine," Pipit assured with his cool smile. _Just exhausted out of mind, aching, the usual, _he thought. Pipit felt himself shiver, and his head slowly began to throb before becoming a full-blown migraine.

Horwell stared at Pipit disbelievingly for a long time giving him the _You shouldn't be here in this condition and there is no way I'm letting you on a loftwing during flying practice today_ look. He turned back to the board and continued to lecture.

* * *

"Hey Pipit!"

Karane ran over, smiling. "What's up?"

Pipit smiled and wrapped his arms around Karane. "Not much," he mumbled back, suddenly hit with another dizzy spell. He shivered, and stood upright.

Karane pushed herself out of his arms and looked up at him for a moment. "All right, what is this?" she asked in her usual stern tone. "What is with the episodes? First you nearly choke on air, and now you look as though you are about to pass out on me. Any explanations?"

Pipit smiled and shook his head no.

"Of course not, I'm fine."

Karane glared at him for a moment, looking in to his eyes as if searching for something.

"Remember that it is rather unbecoming for a gentleman to lie to a lady," she said softly, her serious expression melting into a look of compassion. "Really, are you alright?"

Pipit frowned slightly, considering his current situation, and nodded. "I'll be fine," he said. "Just a little under the weather. Don't worry about me; go enjoy yourself."

"Are you sure we should be going out tonight?" Karane asked.

Pipit crossed his arms before he leaned in and smiled at Karane.

"Absolutely. I wouldn't expect anything less than the best for my girl."

Karane smiled as Pipit straightened up and walked away. "How is it that he manages to be a hard-ass and a gentleman at the same time?" she pondered.

* * *

Karane combed out her long hair, staring at the full-length mirror in her room. There were stuff animals scattered everywhere, and her bed was unkept, yet she looked wonderful, wearing a black and green dress that fell just below her knees, and her hair lying just below her shoulders. Pipit was bound to come for her soon, and surely enough, as she stepped out of the academy into the cool evening air, Pipit was waiting for her, dressed in a freshly pressed uniform, his shoes shined. His face had returned to full color, but still seemed a bit rosier than normal.

"Ready to go?" he asked quietly, smiling and holding out his hand.

As the couple both called their birds, Pipit felt his stomach lurch as he began to fly. Shaking it off and gasping for a moment, he glanced over at Karane, who seemed to be enjoying herself. She was flying happily, sometimes soaring higher than where Pipit dared to follow, and diving back into rhythm with Pipit's loftwing, as if dancing gracefully.

Pipit merely nodded and smiled, his heart still pounding after he took flight. _"Wow…she really is incredible," _he thought. The sun, midway through setting, was casting beautiful shades of pink and red over the clouds beneath them. "_Simply magnificent."_

* * *

"Over there!" Pipit called, pointing to the Lumpy Pumpkin's island. Both loftwings set toward the island gracefully, allowing their riders to dismount.

Pipit landed on his feet before stepping forward to catch Karane.

As the girl landed in his arms, Pipit felt himself weakly stagger for a moment before placing her feet on the ground and coughing into his sleeve. His head throbbed as his migraine returned, having faded into a dull ache before.

"Lets go!" Karane said excitedly, walking into the restaurant.

As Karane ordered pumpkin soup for herself and Pipit, he began to massage his temples in order to fend off his headache.

Soon enough, a plate of soup was placed before Pipit, and as the rich aroma of pumpkin hit him, his head began to pound and he felt his stomach lurch. "Woah..." he said quietly. His head felt as though it were splitting in half.

As Kina went onstage to sing, Pipit began to sway in his seat, his eyes falling half-closed.

"Pipit?" Karane asked, staring at him. "Are you all right?..."_  
_

Pipit massaged his temples more deeply, feeling as the room were beginning to spin, and felt as if the warm air in the room was trying to suffocate him. A mild wave of nausea hit.

"Ugh..." he groaned softly.

"Um...Pipit?" Karane asked softly.

Pipit quietly stood up. "I need some fresh air," he rasped quietly, looking over at Karane.

She glanced over at him for a second in acknowledgement, and then stared at him in wide-eyed shock. Pipit was nearly ghost pale, with his cheeks flushed dark red.

"Pipit, are you sure that you are...?"

"I'm fine!" Pipit nearly bellowed. Karane looked shocked, then angry, and then on the brink of tears.

"Karane..." Pipit said quietly, swaying in his spot. "Karane..." He felt his legs give out beneath him, and a his vision seized out of focus. The last thing that Pipit remembered before he was completely out of his was Karane standing over him in hysteria.

* * *

Pipit's eyes blinked open slowly as his vision slowly refocused. There was a cold cloth on his head, and he worn nothing but his trousers from earlier. Pipit still felt his cheeks burning red, his migraine hadn't disappeared, and the aching was still intense, but his stomach felt marginally better. He began to realize that he was at the knight's academy, probably in one of the spare bedrooms. The room itself was dimly lit by candles which gave off an almost-warm orange glow. There was an empty wardrobe in the corner, and a hickory desk in the corner where Karane sat, staring intently out the window. She was no longer wearing her green dress that she had had on before, but a night gown. Her hair was wet, as if she had just bathed recently.

"It's cold in here..." he rasped quietly, shivering.

Karane glanced at him blankly before turning back to the window. "You're awake!" she said happily. Her smile disappeared, replaced by a look of venom.

"How could you scare me like that you idiot!?" she bellowed. Pipit felt his stomach lurch as memories of what had happened at the Lumpy Pumpkin came back to him.

"You could have just told me you didn't feel well, you know! You don't always have to have this whole 'tough guy' persona! I almost thought you had died when you collapsed! Your temperature had spiked!" She looked as though she were only just holding back tears. "You just...you didn't have to scare me like that. I would rather have stayed at Skyloft to take care of you than go out when you didn't feel well..."

Pipit began to burn with shame, looking over at Karane. He felt his stomach lurch again, and a wave of nausea hit.

"I...I didn't want to disappoint you."

Karane looked up and her expression softened. "You wouldn't have disappointed me if we stayed in Skyloft. Instead I had to fly you back while you were sick and hardly conscious."

"I don't remember being conscious..." Pipit said quietly.

"Then you also wouldn't remember the part were you got sick and ruined my dress," Karane said quietly.

Pipit felt himself turn dark red. "Sounds like you had a pretty rough night..." he said quietly.

"Yeah, a little bit," Karane sighed. "Thanks for being sweet enough to take me out inspite of everything though. You really scared me, and then your mother...You know, as soon as we got back to Skyloft, she practically had a panic attack."

Pipit lowered himself further into the bed and groaned. His hands fell into place just over his stomach.

"Are you all...Oh...right..." Karane helped Pipit up and half carried him toward the bathroom. Once they got there, he collapsed, and Karane winced at the sound of him retching. "Ugh.." she said quietly. She slowly walked over to where Pipit was lurched over a basin and began to rub his back. When he finished, she slowly took him back to his room.

"I'm sorry," he croaked as he lay back in bed, shaking his head before it began to pound with a migraine. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, just relax," Karane said as she sat down at the foot of his bed. "I forgive you. I need you to rest now if you want to get any better..."

"Yeah," Pipit said groggily, beginning to stretch out over the bed. "Sleep would be nice. Thank you, Karane, for everything."

Karane smiled, leaning forward and kissing his forehead. "Sleep well," she said softly before she returned to her spot at the foot of the bed, sitting up against the wall and closing her eyes.

Pipit smiled to himself. "_She really is incredible,_" he thought before falling asleep.

* * *

**Thanks readers! Please review! =)**


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